Come visit The Place Northwest of
Where You’re From!
Take powerboat rides through linked lakes
dotted with islands cookie-dough dolloped by
long ago volcanoes.
Stick your head out the porthole!
Trawl your hand in the water or rent a canoe!
Trek rugged hills, where stolen shopping carts mark
the boundaries of a camp of militant Amish rednecks
dressed all black and white.
Even the women have beards!
Be amazed as their Giant suddenly swells the sky
and lip-syncs soundless admonitions.
You won’t be able to tell if it’s real or a hologram!
Enter the culvert of Little Trickle Creek,
emerge in cozy streets of a quaint small town
where busking Shaolin monks sing Motown
and every day is a sunny Carnival!
Your camera will break
(literally, the plastic will crack into pieces)
as you try to take all of it in
(no one can understand without pictures)
and try to un-remember
the place you come from.
Mike Wilson’s work has appeared in many magazines and in his books, Arranging Deck Chairs on the Titanic (Rabbit House Press), Before the Fall (Kelsay Books), and a debut novel (Food Court, Main Street Rag) forthcoming in 2026. Mike lives in Lexington, Kentucky.
ELEVENTH HOUR LITERARY 